Has anyone here used usforex.com to send money internationally? Their website certainly looks legit. It claims to provide faster service and charge less than banks. I went to my credit union today and was shocked to learn they charge about 6.3% to send money to a bank in the Philippines. I want to send almost $50,000 to get construction started on my retirement villa, and 6.3% of that is $3,150. Outrageous.
So I’d like to get some reassurance before I trust them with that much money. Can anyone vouch for usforex.com?
I can’t vouch for that firm, but I have used transferwise.com successfully on multiple occasions and found them to be quite reasonable. They support USD to PHP transfer. Caveat emptor and all that.
I am curious. If you are engaging in transactions worth that much in the Philippines and actually owning property there wouldn’t it make sense to have a bank account established in the area?
Here is a guideto your rights to own Philippine real estate as US citizen.
Glad to hear that - I’ve been wondering about it myself. I don’t need that kind of service often, but it was annoying when an international wire via my bank to a small B&B that wanted prepayment (but didn’t accept credit cards) cost almost as much as the first night’s stay!
I hope other Dopers, American and not, mention what they pay. I’m interested in comparisons with ordinary retail banks rather than credit unions or savings & loans. In the 1980’s I noticed that many American banks offered high fees and poor service (much worse than European banks?) so switched to Schwab, which offers its own banking services.
Yesterday I wired money from Schwab to Thailand. The Schwab fee is $25 (sometimes waived) or even less if done by self on-line. The Thai bank gave me the best buying rate (0.8% better than $100 banknotes) minus a flat 500 baht fee ($15). Total fees $40, independent of amount, i.e. 0.2% for a $20k wire.
(Varying exchange rates are much more of an issue, especially now . I’d have gained $63 on a $20k exchange by exchanging two days earlier, and could easily be out several $100 (or more :eek: ) later this year just on this if the government pursues it “lower the baht to raise exports” plan. )
ETA: I wired the funds after the Thai banks had already closed Thursday. The funds were available when the bank opened Friday.
We have an account at a bank in the Philippines (BPI). The real estate is in the wife’s name. She is a dual citizen. For those who didn’t read Astro’s link, that’s how it must be done. My name will be on the paperwork for the house, which will make it difficult for her to kick me out on a whim.
In my situation the outrageous part is the exchange rate they are working with. Yesterday afternoon the rate at usforex.com was $1 = P44.68. The credit union, 10 minutes later, was offering P41.155. That is more than a 6% difference. BTW as I write this the rate at usforex is P44.781.
I use TransferWise as well and have so far found it quick, efficient, and inexpensive. As others have noted, it’s not just the low fee, but a great exchange rate. I’ve typed $50,000 into my account and it’s showing that to be PHP 2,209,158. Of course this will vary depending on what the rate is when you make the transfer.
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